Travel for the Over 30s

No I have no plans yet but it may be time to start considering some options. One thing is for sure that as usual the airfares won’t be cheap from mid-December onwards.

Last year we drove the Nullarbor been there, done that -won’t be doing that again! From Perth our options are really to head south to the SW, head north or head overseas.

The vast majority of locals head south to the South-West  Capes , Geographe Bay and the Margaret River wine region.   Which is of course is the issue. Prices are sky-high and accommodation needsto booked far in advance - like NOW! The climate is perfectdown there in the middle of summer though - cooler than Perth (that had a run of 40C plus last Christmas/New Year). Rottnest is another popular destination - but that will be booked solid by now.

I am thinking about heading north again -  I really liked Broome - we may even get a deal because most people think its the Wet in December - but the weather should be fine that early in the season - humid though. Broome has a lot of appeal - its a pretty resort town - but we’d have to fly - it s a very, very long drive.

Our other option might be to head to Asia - Bali, KL, Singapore, Thailand all have cheap flights -but it remains to be seen whether they last past the current 15 Nov cut-off!

Talk about totally annoying! We have a group of hoteliers and other tourism related businesses complaining about the downturn of tourism in Western Australia. We have the government telling us to holiday at home. So I do the right thing - I take the weekend off and go to Augusta for the weekend.

Augusta is on the southwestern-most point of Australia . It has a lighthouse on it - of course - just 7km out of town is Cape Leuwin with the Leuwin Lighthouse on the that cape. An attractive white lighthouse - which I quite liked the look of from a distance - because that is exactly how close I got. You see I am not prepared to pay to approach a lighthouse! I am prepared to pay to enter the lighthouse - I am prepared to pay for a guide, even an audio-tour. But I am not prepared to approach a building on public land!

The good people of Augusta had decided to make more money from their attractive lighthouse and are therefore going to charge $5/head. Well they didn’t get $10 from my partner and I - and they didn’t get $25 from the family behind us who also turned back. Worse none of use even bothered entering the gift shop or the cafe - so we didn’t spend you any money there either - makes you think - well I’d hope it would anyway!

Parkes, NSW, on the face of it, a unlikely place to drive 360km west of Sydney to see. It is a pleasant enough country town surrounded by wheat fields. Pleasant country towns and wheatfields aren’t on most tourist’s to do lists.

However it was a whole lot different 40 years ago and yes I took the long detour to check out Parkes - well not Parkes itself - but the historic Parkes Radio Telescope which is located down an improbable country road - about 20km out of town. Seriously I’d love to see a tourist’s face who stumbled on the huge dish in the middle of fields by accident!

During the 1969 1969 Apollo moon landing Parkes was a critical  part of the NASA tracking program which transmitted the famous pictures of Armstrong and Aldrin walking on the moon.  Australia being conveniently located “down under” it was one of several used by NASA during the 1960s for both the Gemini and Apollo programs. Unfortunately the other two sites: Carnavon,WA and Honeysuckle Creek near Canberra, have been closed and nothing much remains.

Parkes on the other hand is still a functioning radio telescope with an interesting museum and excellent coffee shop with views over the dish. If you are in the area and have interest in astronomy its definitly worth a detour - kid friendly too.

The story of Parkes and the moon landings was retold in the movie The Dish staring Sam Neil

That’s right on the 5th August Qantas is offering  seats to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane or Adelaide from London for the price of £10! Seats go on sale on the 5 August and are only available for those who hold a valid working holiday visa for Australia. Seats are available on flights departing  between August 15 and September 30 and November 1 to 30 - both traditionally slow times of the year for Qantas.

Is there a catch - yes- there are only 150 seats available for the price and those that want them are recommended to camp out over night to get in first. If they miss out Qantas will offer them a STG679 ($A1,386.56) which is not very good at all compared to prices that Air Asia  X is offering on the route.

Its all a publicity stunt of course. “10 pound Poms” was the term used for assisted English migrants who came to Australia post-War right up to the 1970’s - in an attempt to “keep Australia white” - fortunately it didn’t work out to well!

The original 10 pound Poms had one way tickets in steerage on a boat. The new generation of 10 pound Poms will get a return airfare - as  no one but New Zealanders and Australians are allowed to fly on a one-way ticket to Australia these days. Australia doesn’t want more migrants anymore!

Anyway - if you can bothered camping out overnight its a very good deal - but if you miss out check out other cheap flights such as Air Asia X - that would be a better deal I think

Well you have probably all read multiple times - to get the best deal you have to book and pay weeks, if not months in advance. I’ve done it myself - booked as early as August to get flight home for Christmas.

Today I had an interesting experience - I needed to get my partner a ticket from Perth to New Zealand ASAP due to a family emergency. I went online thinking the worst i.e. up to A$1200 each way. After all last year standard peak fares were in the A$800 one way range for Perth/New Zealand. At 10am I wanted a flight that would get him home by tomorrow - I was prepared to pay.

But I didn’t have to -  I got a flight on the midnight special connecting via Melbourne for a 9am flight to New Zealand - total cost (including the credit card fee) from Qantas? A$595! I could have chosen any of the flights tomorrow that connect to NZ - three or four options.

And over the next week every day had at least one flight combo which was less than A$650- extraordinary. Not good for the airline industry but excellent for anyone who needs a flight in a hurry.

It gets cold in Australia - a point lost on many overseas visitors. In Perth its warm enough to swim in the ocean from November to April but today it will be the coldest night of the year 2C - after a maximum of 14C OK its not Canadian cold but its not weather to wander around in shorts and sandles - unless you are a British tourist of course!

In fact the ski season is great this year in Australia with Thredbo, NSW and the Victorian snow coverage -  not a feature of every ski season in Australia despite the best efforts of the ski industry’s spin department.

Mind you if you have the right gear i.e. warm clothes - this is a fantastic time to visit the outback - few snakes and the best star  gazing conditions because of the clear cold air.

4WDing is a lot easier too when the ground is cool its a lot firmer than in the summer. Just remember your hats and gloves! And if you do hit rain remember you will be stuck for a few days!

Snorkeling  with whale sharks is nothing at all like cage diving. Whale sharks are the biggest of all sharks, the biggest fish in the sea, and are plankton feeders, harmless to humans. They grow up to 7m long and migrate up Australia’s west coast. From Exmouth you can take a day tour to swim with the whale sharks.

In a similar manner to what spotting tours the boats use spotter planes to find the whale sharks who swim only a metre or two below the surface. While they are finding the fish the guests get to practice their snorkeling - this is not a trip for beginners and its compulsory to snorkel first off just to make sure that your gear is OK and you are not going to panic being in deep water.

The whale sharks come so close into Exmouth because the continental shelf drops off very close to shore at this part of the coast line. When a whale shark is spotted the idea is to jump in after the dive master and sprint snorkle to keep up with the group -€“ this is harder than it sounds in  1 to 2 metre swell its surprisingly difficult to see others in the water. The boat isn’t allowed within 250 metres of the animal so the last bit is up to you. Unlike all the frantic bubbles and splashing from the humans on the surface the whale shark doesn’t even seem to be making an effort its hard to judge that they are moving fast as with only the blue of the deep ocean below it.

The whale shark season in Exmouth runs from March to July. Its the end of the summer at the water temperature was 28C the same out with the whale sharks as on the beach. You will however need sun protection.  An all day tour costs around A$360 including all gear, pick up from accommodation, lunch.

The photos are from the on-board professional photographer I was too busy swimming hard to take take any pictures.

Do you prefer to drive to your holiday destination or fly? Its always a dilemma - we are driving 2500km round-trip over Easter and decided to drive instead of flying made me think of the factors that go into that decisions:

Why Drive to Exmouth

• Exmouth is 1200km (750 miles) from Perth and it will take us two days to drive because neither of us really enjoy 12 hour driving marathons and dodging kangaroos anymore!
• We need a car at the destination: hiring one is expensive in small town Australia
• If we drive we can take cheap camping gear and camp for A$35/night rather than  get a room for at least $120/night
• Flying to a regional location not serviced by cheaper airlines like Tiger Airways means that you pay a lot: a month ago it was going to be around A$500/return - each.
• Flight disruptions can ruin a short break like Easter, strikes are always more likely at times like Easter.

Disadvantages of Driving Long-Distance In Western Australia

• Western Australia has some stunningly beautiful locations: some of the best scenery in Australia in my opinion - but the distances between are vast.
• Long straight roads really make it very easy to fall asleep or drive off the road -  I’d rather drive somewhere with curves in the road or traffic - neither are common in Australia.
• The petrol prices are always more expensive just before a long-weekend and much more expensive in regional areas.
• Road houses are not the most exciting places to over-night.

Oh and why are we going to Exmouth - you better subscribe to the feed to find out what we are seeing in Exmouth!

Its all good news at the moment if you have the money to travel. Singapore Air is making headlines in Australia having slashed their return airfares to Europe by more than 50%. Return fares from Perth to Europe with Singapore Airlines start from A$1352  -which is around $1000 cheaper than similar Asian airlines such as MAS and Cathay Pacific. The flying Kangaroo Qantas normally charges nearly A$3000 for the trip.  Sale prices to London include all taxes and charges and are valid until 30 November though bookings have to made and paid for by 17 April.

Singapore Air is arguably one of the best airlines in the world and offers modern A380 and 777 planes ex Australia. European destinations on sale with Singapore Air include Barcelona London, Milan, Paris and Frankfurt. All flights ex-Australia require a change in Singapore - but this is no hardship  given that Changi airport is often on the world’s best airports lists of travel magazines. Pack your swimming gear for a swim in the pool or pay for a spa-like shower experience - or do a whistle stop city tour courtesy of Singapore Air (does not require you to pass immigration into/out of Singapore).

Photo Credit

Continuing on with our website reviews series, today we are looking at Budget 4WD Travel

This is a site about travelling by 4WD around Australia. The author drove 35,000 kilometres around Australia and has used this site to document some of her hard-won lessons on camping on a budget

This site has some great information particularly for those people looking for camping gear reviews or basic how-to’s to set up a camping holiday. There are also some nice descriptions of some of Australia’s iconic drives such as the “Big Lap” - right around Australia and the Gibb River Road in far north Western Australia.  The site is using a pleasent WordPress theme which rotates a number of posts in the “feature” spot which is a nice touch for the visitor.

There is also an attached eBay store which allows the visitor to see the current cost of used 4WD’s in Australia. As with any site which mentions prices - things change, particularly the price of petrol (gas) and diesel - but overall this site has a lot of general useful information for anyone contemplating a trip to Australia - or even wanting to know which camping lights to buy!